Rescue Teams Search Damaged Hydropower Tunnels for Those Missing in Nepal Flood

Rescuers are using tunnel operations, heavy machinery and specialist expertise to search for people still missing after Nepal’s devastating Bhotekoshi flood.

Nepali security personnel are working with Nepali and foreign tunnel experts at several hydropower projects where people may be trapped or remain unaccounted for. At the Chilime Hydropower Project, teams have entered about 50 metres into a tunnel. They have advanced about 150 metres at the Langtang Hydropower Project and about 200 metres at Upper Trishuli-1.

The work is taking place in difficult conditions as teams clear obstructions and try to reach deeper parts of the tunnels. At Trishuli-3A, rescuers have located the tunnel head. A compressor is pumping air inside, while other teams drain water from the tunnel. Three excavators are creating an alternative route so rescuers can approach the affected section from another direction.

At Trishuli-3B, specialists have located the tunnel entrance and are using an excavator to dig through the area and open access for the rescue operation. The search follows flooding across the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river system in Rasuwa on Aug. 26, which caused extensive loss of life and infrastructure damage. With people still missing, teams continue trying different ways to reach inaccessible sections of the damaged tunnels.